Naleighna Kai - Baring it All: The Ins and Outs of Publishing

by M-LAS:

Naleighna Kai

Renee Bernard

Joyce A. Brown

Candy Jackson

Martha Kennerson

L. A. Lewis

D. J. McLaurin

Tanishia Pearson-Jones

Janice Pernell

Susan D. Peters

Valarie Prince

J. L. Woodson

Macro Publishing Group

Chicago, Illinois

This book is solely intended for the use of helping aspiring writers or published authors on the quest to becoming better writers or marketers or widening their visibility. The information shared is based on personal experience of the authors and any advice therein should be weighed against current circumstance and what is currently available from other sources on a consumer level.

M-LAS: Macro Literary All-Stars:

Naleighna Kai, J. L. Woodson, Janice Pernell, Joyce A. Brown, Martha Kennerson, Valarie Prince, Candy Jackson, D. J. McLaurin, L. A. Lewis, Susan D. Peters, Tanishia Pearson-Jones, along with honorary member: Renee Bernard

Macro Publishing Group

Macro Marketing & Promotions Group

www.macrompg.com

2014 by Macro Publishing Group

ISBN: 978-0-9826829-1-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means including electronic, mechanical or photocopying or stored in a retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages to be included in a review.

First printing August 2014

Cover designed by: J. L. Woodson www.jlwoodson.com

Interior design by: Lissa Woodson www.macrompg.com

Acknowledgments

What is M-LAS?

Macro Literary All-Stars (M-LAS) is an author support group of Macro Marketing & Promotions Group clients which was founded by Naleighna Kai in May 2014. Our main purpose is to grow, learn to write new genres, and cross-promote each other. Our mission is to build a broad base of mainstream readers and travel the country to events that will connect us with book clubs and avid readers. Our ultimate goal is to land on the national bestsellers liststogether.

The members of M-LAS would first and foremost like to thank The Creator for never-ending mercy and grace. A special thank you to Katie Walsh for providing additional professional support for this book.

This book is dedicated to authors who aspire to do more than put words on paper, they also want to do what it takes to share their message with the world.

Table of Contents - by subject matter

On Writing

- Janice Pernell

- Naleighna Kai

- J. L. Woodson

- D. J. McLaurin

- Valarie Prince

- Candy Jackson

- D. J. McLaurin

- Susan D. Peters

Editing

- Janice Pernell (with a note from Naleighna Kai)

- J. L. Woodson

- Susan D. Peters

- Tanishia Pearson-Jones

Publishing (snapshots of an entire journey)

- Naleighna Kai

- Naleighna Kai

- Renee Bernard

- Joyce A. Brown

- Valarie Prince

- Susan D. Peters

Business Advice

- D. J. McLaurin

Agents/Contracts

- Martha Kennerson

- Naleighna Kai

- Valarie Prince

Graphic Design

- J. L. Woodson (with notes from Susan D. Peters and Joyce A. Brown)

Interior Book Design

- Naleighna Kai

Marketing

- Susan D. Peters

- Candy Jackson

- L. A. Lewis

- J. L. Woodson

- Naleighna Kai

- Tanishia Pearson-Jones (with a note from Naleighna Kai)

Introduction

by Naleighna Kai, national bestselling author of Open Door Marriage, Every Woman Needs a Wife, and Was it Good For You Too?

People talk a good game about writing a book. I can count on my right hand, left hand, both of your hands, and probably a whole busload of peoples hands how many times aspiring writers have walked up to me at a bookstore signing and said:

Ive always wanted to write a book.

My family says I should write the story of my life.

Ive been writing a book for X-amount of years and

This, and many variations. And all I can think is, Well, at some point, you need to do more than just say youre writing. You cant be pregnant forever. You have to produce something at some point. But a lot of people get stuck.

This is the main reason my esteemed author friends, clients, and I put this book together. Perhaps somewhere in here youll find something to help you get unstuck. For we speak not only of our successes, but also of the times we had to overcome doubt and obstacles. I think there is something to gain from each persons journey. The topics covered in this book start with writing tips and the writing process, and then we walk you through the rest of the getting-to-print journeyediting, the business aspect of writing, agents, book covers, interior design, websites, marketing and much more.

We hope it inspires you to get your book finished and off to press. Each of us who contributed to this book is driven. We see writing as more than a hobbyits our way of life. So no, we didnt come here to play. And because youre reading this book right now, neither did you!

Chapter 1 - Dont Think, Just Write

by Janice Pernell, Developmental and Copy/Content Editor, and author of No Right Way to Do a Wrong Thing

Path to publishing: Won a contest which resulted in an independent publishing house offering to pick up my Christian anthology upon its completion; current novel under consideration by a different independent publishing house.

I have a writer friend who can sit for ten hours in a lounge filled with conversation, movement and music and write 30,000 words for whichever novel she happens to be working on at the time. Another friend of mine can lock herself away in her writing cave when faced with a deadline and emerge six hours later, having pounded out just under 20,000 words to complete her novel.

I, on the other hand, can sit in my special writing place for hours, only to come out with one hand holding several locks of hair that I pulled out in frustration and the other hand holding a sheet of paper containing onemaybe twoparagraphs that I typed.

I wont even wince at your initial diagnosis because I always thought the same thing youre thinking: youre just not a writer. But one of these friends, editor and national bestselling author Naleighna Kai, has edited some of the work I finally got out of my brain and onto paper, and shes told me that I actually have the makings of a good author. But shes your friend, you say. She has to pump you up and tell you youre good. Point taken. But publishing houses dont do that kind of thing. If your writing stinks, they throw it out like yesterdays garbage. Yet amazingly, in the fall of 2013, I won the grand prize in the Xulon Press Christian Choice Writing Contest. The grand prize was a publishing package for an anthology I am currently writing. And several months ago, a second publishing house offered me a conditional contract based on a sample from my novel that my agent submitted to them.

So apparently, Ive got the good author gene. I just seem to be missing the fast writer chromosome. While other authors know how to let creative thoughts freefall through their minds and onto the page, you cant imagine the mental calisthenics Ive gone through in order to get something worth reading on paper. Dont get me wrongIm not saying that my creative thoughts dont flow. But when they do begin to flow, they often get trapped in a sieve in my brain, where they must be shaken and sifted and examined